The present invention relates to strap retainers, and more particularly to strap retainers for securing child restraining straps onto shopping carts or other vehicles.
Shopping carts are often equipped with straps for securing a child in a seating area. The straps typically include a length of nylon, polyester or polypropylene webbing that is secured to the cart with one or more strap retainers. The strap retainers may be D-rings, clips, or other fasteners to ensure that the strap does not detach from the cart when in use. Often the child strap apparatus will include a buckle to make it easier for a shopper to clip the strap around a child.
Some prior art strap retainers include two ends that form a locking member, such that the strap retainer forms a closed loop when the locking member is locked, but comprises an open post when the locking member is unlocked. The strap retainer may attach to the webbing by passing the open post of the unlocked member through a loop in the webbing. These designs allow an operator to place the open post of the unlocked strap retainer around a frame member or other feature on the shopping cart, and then lock the locking member to form the closed loop that secures the strap retainer to the shopping cart.
A strap manufacturer may assemble the components of the strap assembly and then ship them to a cart manufacturer to install onto new carts, or a retail store to replace worn or damaged straps. Many manufacturers prefer to ship the strap assemblies with the strap retainers attached for easy assembly onto the shopping carts at their destination.
A disadvantage in the prior art strap retainers is that when the open post engages a loop in the strap or webbing, the loop can easily slide off of the open post during shipping. This results in an unnecessary cost in time and effort to reassemble the straps and retainers at their destination.
Some prior art strap retainers try to overcome this disadvantage by shaping the unlocked strap retainer in a mostly closed triangular shape, such that a portion of the unlocked retainer blocks the opening. The shape of these retainers makes it less likely that a webbing loop will accidentally slide out, but these retainers require significant distortion to lock them.
Other prior art strap retainers try to overcome this disadvantage by placing the locking member in a position where a webbing loop is less likely to slide out. However, nothing restrains the webbing loop from sliding out of the retainer.
Still other prior art strap retainers try to overcome this disadvantage by providing a sew tab, so that the strap retainer is sewn to the webbing. But when this style of retainer becomes damaged, it cannot merely be removed and replaced in the retail store because it is sewn to the webbing. The retainer and the attached webbing must be replaced together, causing unnecessary cost.
Accordingly, there is need for providing an improved strap retainer that overcomes one or more of these problems.